Irony?

I've spent the last week immersed in conversation about writing and books. The result: I can't read. I return to my hotel room at night, look at the stack of books I brought along and don't even bother.

This has happened in other years when I've come to residency, and I anticipated it would again so this time I only brought short stories--a mix of old favorites and some I hadn't read (Alice Munro, Ward Just, Elizabeth McCracken).

I could use a stack of People magazines. Entertainment Weekly and Cosmo sound good too. I suspect, however, that Vanity Fair would be too taxing.

There's still a lot of wonderful stuff on the residency schedule for these last few days (including a reading by Jane Yolen on Saturday night--come one, come all*) but I confess I'm already looking beyond the graduation on Sunday to when I head home. The new Anne Tyler is waiting for me there (Please--no reviews in the comment section, okay?) and Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, is waiting for me at the Eau Claire library. (Ditto.)

I live about ninety minutes east of St. Paul. I have no idea if the drive home will provide enough time to retool and regain my reading skills. Here's hoping.

MQ

Jane Yolen reads Saturday, January 16
7:00-8:00 p.m. Hamline U
Giddens Learning Center, Room 100E, 1556 Hewitt Avenue, Saint Paul